I FIRST felt the call to Africa when I was in Houston, Texas, Rev. Bosworth brought me Miss Florence Nightingale's picture. (Many of you saw that picture recently in THE VOICE OF HEALING.) I received a cablegram right after that asking me to come to Durban, South Africa. I laid the picture down on the floor, and with my wife and babies knelt around it and prayed, "God, if You'll just heal that poor dear woman, I'll go to Africa and witness for You down there." I committed it to the Lord, and little did I know that it would turn out that I should go to Africa.
The woman was perhaps five feet eight inches tall, but her arms and limbs were so tiny and she had to be on her back continually. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and the nurses had to bend down to hear what she was saying. She said that she wanted me to ask God to let her die. She didn't want to live any longer. Well, after her praying and holding on to God so long, it was hard for me to ask God to let her die So I prayed that she would get well. While I was praying one of the sweetest things happened. A little dove came fluttering through the bushes and sat near the window He walked back and forth and cooed as he walked. Some of the ministers mentioned the dove, but before I could say anything, the Angel of the Lord came near. The blessing of God came on the woman. She was told that she would live and not die. Friends, that woman weighs about 155 pounds now and is in perfect health.
I had promised God that I would go to Africa if He would heal her. So, when the call came again I was ready to go. We went to New York and had a marvelous meeting in the St. Nicholas Arena. The place was packed out on the second night.
I had been told that no American subject would require a visa as long as he were going to British territory, nor would I need a typhus shot. However, when I was about to board the plane, they told me I had to have both.
The plane pulled off leaving me standing on the runway. Brother Baxter shouted, "Let me out of here. I'm afraid this thing will fall." However, we told him to go on to Africa and we would get there as soon as we could.
Some days later, we were permitted to leave for Africa and were about to land. There was a bad bank of fog and we had a broken instrument. For an hour we circled over the city. Everybody sat quietly. I was praying. When we hit the runway, everybody let out a big sigh. I said, "Hallelujah!" I was really glad to be on the ground again We were greeted in Johannesburg by many news reporters as well as about 30,000 people.
That night we went to the place of meeting. As far as I could see, through the lights, there was a solid mass of suffering humanity. I was very tired, being under the strain of traveling, but I had spoken for about five minutes when I looked down and saw a lady lying on a cot. Then the Angel of the Lord came near. The woman was told that she had been in an accident two years before that and had broken her back, that it had been wired and that the doctors had given her no hope of ever walking again. Her mother sat there nodding her head that it was right. Then, in a vision, I saw a young lady get up and walk. I knew she was going to be healed. I said, "Sister, in the Name of the Lord, you are healed. Her mother said, "Oh no, no! She can't get up, she'll die." But the young girl raised right up off the cot, then screamed and threw up her hands. The mother fainted and dropped on the cot that her daughter had just left.
Everybody began to look but just then back in the audience I saw a vision of a boy, a young fellow about sixteen, walking, bent over. I said, "Young man, haven't you a limb quite a bit shorter than the other" He said, "Yes sir." I then said, "I have just noticed you in a vision. You've come a long way, haven't you?" He said, "Yes sir." I then saw in the vision a car that they had driven over in. Just then I saw him walking back, and this time he was just as normal as anyone could be. I said, "Brother, in the Name of the Lord you are normal now." He had come from Durban and many people knew him. As soon as I had told him that God had healed him, he stood on his feet straight and came running down the aisle, with both legs exactly the same length. Well, that just set the place aglow.
The next night I tried to explain to the people about Divine Healing. I told them that doctors don't heal people, nor do they claim to heal people. They are just able to aid nature in the person who is sick. Only God is a healer. The next morning an officer in the Medical Association of Africa called me up and wanted to take me out to dinner. I couldn't go because I had t fast when I am under the anointing in a healing meeting. So they came down to the meeting and gave me the right hand of fellowship. My, the people that came! Looked as if they turned them al out of the hospitals so that they could come to the meeting.
I want to tell you about two Dutch Reformed ministers who came to the meeting One was for the services and the other against. The one who was against them said, "He is a hypnotizer as sure as the world." The other said, "No, hypnotizers don't heal people." "Well, then he is a spiritualist for sure. He must be of the devil, for how could he know those things that he is telling to the sick?"
The other minister who was taking up for me said, "This is the day of visitation! If you do not believe, you are going to regret it. This is the last revival from the Lord before Hid Coming. I am going to pray for your soul." He went out in the yard and knelt down under a peach tree. While he was praying, there stood in front of him the angel of the Lord, who said, "Go speak to him again" When the angel spoke these words a hand was laid on his shoulder, and he felt as if fire went through him. He went back to his friend and told him that he had seen an angel and that a hand had been placed upon his back. suddenly the other minister acted as though he had had an heart attack. There was a scorched place on the man's shirt which was just the image of a man's hand! The story came out in the headlines of the newspapers the next day. It showed the picture of a minister looking at the print of the hand of an angel on his shirt--scorched!
God gave us a marvelous right-or-way there. Great signs and wonders took place. Brother Baxter came the next day and said, "Brother Branham, we leave here in the morning." I said, "Leave here? We are having a wonderful meeting." He said, "Yes, they have us lined up to go to Kimberly." And he mentioned some other towns. I said, "Is that right? It looks like we ought to stay here. We have had such a great meeting. We are to be here for ten weeks you know."
The Lord then showed me in a vision that we should not make the move at that time. The Lord said, "Do not take that itinerary that they want you to take. Stay here for a few weeks and then you can go on to Durban." The Committee had made promises to certain ministers and it was hard for them to turn them down. "The meetings are set in order, and we will have to leave here in about two hours." they said. I got in the car but the Lord kept speaking to me not to go. I told the drover to stop the car that we must not go on, that we were getting out of the will of God; that whenever God speaks to me in this way, it never fails to lead to trouble if I do not obey His voice.
I then said, "Remember Paul of old when he said on board the ship, 'You should not have loosed from Crete.' If we go, we'll suffer for it." We got back in the car and went on to Klerksdorp. There were about 15,000 people out on the hill, many of whom were to be prayed for. I felt condemned, for it was a menace to the little city to have so many there. Then, just about half hour before the time to go to the meeting, there came up a tropical storm and almost drowned the great crowd of people there. At ten o'clock I still couldn't get out of the house, the wind was blowing so. You think that you have storms here. You ought to be in a tropical storm once. For hours it thunders and the lightning flashes constantly. When the others came back from the meeting that night I said, "I told you so." (Those are great words--"I told you so!")
A brother said to me, "Oh, it will be alright. Tomorrow we will have a pretty day. We have those storms quite frequently this time of the year."
Billy, my son, and I went to bed and the next morning we awoke to a beautiful day. That night about half an hour before meeting there came a blizzard. There was no meeting. About two o'clock in the morning they were still up discussing what they should do about it. They said that hundreds of dollars of advertising were out, and they were bringing in the natives for hundreds of miles around. My boy and I knelt down to pray. After awhile Billy went to bed, but I kept on praying. Almost towards daylight, the angel came and said, "You may go with them on their itinerary, but the whole party will suffer for it. This shall be the sign to you. They will come in a black car to pick you up, and you will be taken down a certain road. On that road there will be a native dressed in a white suit with a stick in his hand, standing near a eucalyptus tree by a bridge. He'll be striking at another man and your son will call your attention to it."
When I came out of the vision I went to Billy and woke him and told him what the angel had said. When morning came they sent for us in a black car, and we went up the road watching the scenery as we went along. Suddenly Billy jumped and said, "Daddy, look at that." There was that native with a white suit standing near the eucalyptus tree preparing to strike a man. I said, "You remember what I told you Billy?" The little fellow cried...to see it happen just like that. We had a good meeting that day.
In the next town the trouble started. Around twelve thousand people were in town and the local preacher wanted the meeting in his church which only seated a few hundred. They had to go down and get the race track to put the people in.
But there was more trouble. We hadn't been told that we were supposed to boil our drinking water. One by one our party got sick, and we were really sick.
We finally got to Durban, the town where the Lord told us to go in the first place. I guess there were 30,000 people there and many Hindu Indians. Now in Durban they got the big race track and the people were seated for three city blocks. People were hungering and thirsting for God.
Then Sunday afternoon was a great and marvelous day in my life. We walked out to the service. There was a storm coming over but the people never paid any attention to that. They just sat there and let the rain come on them, splashing their faces, but they never noticed. They were hungering and thirsting for that immortal life that God was giving them. Many strange things happened in that great crowd of about 100,000.
That afternoon the mayor of the city came down to see us. The people had seen the power of God and they were believing. Brother Bosworth said, "Brother Branham, if they could all get in here, there would be over 100,000." The militia was there, and they said that people were streaming in over all the hills.
We couldn't give out prayer cards; it was impossible. We told the missionaries to get three of each tribe and bring them in. And when we got to the platform, the first ones who came were Mohammedans. Some of them were very staunch Hindus. They had a red dot between their eyes. They had been "Blessed at the temple." They are hard to do anything with. Thousands of them sat in the audience, and their chiefs, many of them were around watching.
One of the first ones that came was a man with a crippled hand. The Angel of the Lord spoke and said, "He received that from a fall; he fell and hit a rock and hurt his hand. He has been crippled for a long time, but he's healed now!" When the interpreter repeated it, the man leaped into the air and was perfectly whole.
The next was a Hindu woman. She was told all about her life and what was wrong with her. The Hindus began to scream. They believe in reincarnation and thought the spirit of some Hindu god had come back to mortals. Brother Baxter had to go to the microphone and stop that. It was a thrilling time.
A little colored boy, with a great fat stomach (caused by a bad diet) came to the platform. He was cross-eyed. The Angel of the Lord told all about his life and his parents. The parents nodded it was right. The chiefs were convinced that something was going on that they didn't know anything about. The little lad was standing there and the missionary brought him real close to me. Then I saw that God had made him well, for his little eyes came just as straight as they could be.
A young British doctor who was sitting on the platform picked the little boy up. I heard Brother Baxter and Brother Bosworth trying to keep the man back. The doctor cried, "Preacher, can I ask you something?" I answered, "Yes sir." He asked, "Do you straighten everybody's eyes?" I replied, "I didn't straighten his." But, the doctor said, "His eyes are now straight. I was the one who brought him here. That boy was pitifully cross-eyed, but he is well now. Does everyone get healed that is cross-eyed that you pray for?" I replied, "No sir, it is according to the patient's faith in God." He looked at the little boy again, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He walked up to the platform and said, "I, too, want to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior then." Some of the missionaries took him over to them. When I was leaving Johannesburg later, he cried to me, "Brother Branham! Brother Branham!" I turned around to him and he threw his arms around me and cried, "I believe I am going to be a preacher!" I replied, "I believe that God is going to make one of you."
Next coming to the platform was a man that they had to lead by a chain. He had a collar on and walked like a dog on his hands and his feet. No one could no anything for him. God showed me at that moment that he had been that way since a child. His hips were way high. I can't tell you how the poor man looked. You can imagine his condition and appearance with no clothes on. Then a vision came before me, that he would be made well. I said to the missionary, "Stand him up." They stared at me. I said again, "Stand him up." They began to pull on him and the man stood up! He began to fall, then he stood straight and looked around. People began to jump to their feet and scream.
After the people had seen the mighty workings of God and Brother Baxter and Brother Bosworth preaching the Gospel with such force, it was impossible for them to get by without receiving the breath of Christ. When the altar call was made, it was estimated that 30,000 stood to their feet and accepted Christ at one time. I asked, "How many of you are ready to believe that Jesus Christ is the Immortal God? Are you ready to throw down your idols and are you Mohammedans ready to renounce all your superstitions? Which of your priests in the temple could give this man perfect soundness? Which of the idols that some of you pack in your hands, could heal this man? there isn't any power in them. But Jesus Christ the son of God, through faith in His Name, has made this man stand here whole today! Now if you're really sincere and you really mean this from the bottom of your heart, let all the natives break their idols and let the Mohammedans wash the red dot from their eyes."
It was like a dust storm when they broke their idols and took their aprons and washed the red dots from their eyes. They raised their hands and tears were rolling down their cheeks. Hallelujah! Brother, you can call it fanaticism if you want to.
There was a group of ministers who came to me five or six years ago and said, "Brother Branham, you are crazy. You'll never get that program over." I replied, "God says do it; that's all that matters to me. If He said, 'Do it,' it will be done." Standing there with the clergymen the other day, I said, "The thing that you called 'fanaticism' has brought more people to Christ than millions of dollars spent on a program without the power of God." That's right. Jesus Christ knew it would take these things to convert the heathen. You and I read and understand, and faith cometh by hearing. But a heathen has got to see power. He will serve a God of power. Paul knew that 1900 years ago. Out in the lands where he ministered, he knew that it took a God of power to convert the heathen. The Lord is just the same today. I believe the hour is approaching when Jesus Christ will come again. That is the reason that the gospel is spreading and thousands and thousands are getting saved at one time. When I think of that I want to say, "AMAZING GRACE!" God has done great and mighty works for us today!
A lady in America once said to me, "Brother Branham there is hardly any use to come to your meetings. You just throw out a few cards, and perhaps only twenty-five in a night get prayed for." There has always been a confusion in the minds of the people concerning this. Over in Africa the people understood right away. Just as soon as they saw a few miracles, that was enough for them. The only thing that we asked them to do, was to stand and repeat the prayer that we were praying and mean it from their hearts, and accept the Lord as their Savior and Healer. Thousands of people testified to their healing as a result of this mass prayer.
On the way back from Africa I began to question, "Lord, what must I do? Must I stay longer in a city to get to all the people who want to be prayed for?" While I was thinking on this, a terrible storm came up. We had traveled all night and it was now morning. I saw everybody acting nervous and I wondered what the trouble was. I asked one of the stewards, that was coming back and forth in the plane, what was the matter. The steward said, "You're a minister, aren't you?" I replied, "Yes sir." He then said, "I guess you don't mind dying, do you?" I answered, "Wait a minute!" He then explained, "We will be all right if we can hold out until we can get to a certain place up in Nova Scotia. We got into a storm a while ago, and we haven't enough gas to hold up much longer." We made it though and I surely was glad to get back on the ground. The rest of the passengers celebrated by opening up champagne, but we celebrated by worshipping God.
But after I got back home, I kept on praying about God's will for me in the meetings. I saw Brother Bosworth a little later, and I said to him, "Brother Bosworth, it was a wonderful time." He replied, "Brother Branham, it was the greatest in history." Then he continued, "I want to say something. Brother Branham, you're a brand new Branham now. You're ready to start anew." I said, "Yes, but I am not sure what God's will is for me, and I am not going out again until I know what He wants me to do."
I continued to pray. I had a battle with that amoeba in Africa. I asked the Lord to please help me. For months since I returned from Africa I have been praying and fasting. But week after week nothing happened and it seemed that God had turned His face from me. Then one night I went to bed late. Sometime after two o'clock the Angel of the Lord awakened me. The angel had in his hand some paper. He showed me that the paper had been marked on and he took the paper and threw it, and when it scattered out, it went way up toward the sky and he said, "It is clear!" Then I fell on my face again and cried, "Lord, I've prayed, I have cried, I have asked Your pardon for past disobedience. Please forgive me. I will never let anybody else cause me to disobey You, after You have told me what to do."
While I was praying, the angel came to my side and said, "You have been wondering about how to conduct your meetings." I replied, "Yes, Lord, I have wondered what I should do. So many have told me how. Some say do this and others, do that." The angel said, "It shall be shown you, as you are led by the Spirit."
Then the angel moved close to me. He picked me up by the arm and sat me down at Durban, South Africa, just as plain as if I were sitting there looking at that audience now. There I could see the great crowd spread along three whole city blocks.
Then the vision changed, and I saw another audience. I have never seen so many people. They looked like Indians. They had very few clothes on and they looked like people from India. Their hands were in the air and they were praising God. I asked, "Are these yellow people or black people?" Just then the Angel of the Lord spoke from the sky, and said, "There are 300,000 of them."
I believe it won't be long before the Lord will lead me into another meeting either in South Africa or India, and it will be three times the size of the meeting in Durban. I want to join my voice with St. Paul of old when he was on the ship and said that all would be well. When the hope of those on the ship was gone, Paul came up and said to the people, "Be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must e brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."
I join my voice with Paul saying, "It shall be even as God showed it unto me." Brother, sister, the old-time Holy Ghost gospel message has almost swept around the world. The other day we were talking to a missionary that was returning from Korea and he told me he had buried his wife there. She had died of a fever, and he had buried her beside a river. He told of persecutions. But he also told of a great revival that had sprung up from somewhere and thousands had received the Holy Ghost. I believe with all my heart, we are near the end. Some Assembly of God officials said, "Brother Branham, we'll send you to India...not to represent the Assembly of God, but just to go down there, for the people in that land are hungry to see those things and when they come to Christ it might change the whole situation."
The situation will be changed, I believe, at the Second Coming of Christ. I am convinced, as God's servant, that there are people right here in this building tonight that will never die of old age. They will see Jesus coming. I believe the hours are crowding in. God is making His final call, and oh, if I could bet tell you some of the things that are pointing right down to that place now. If you are here tonight and are not ready to receive Christ, what have you to hold to now?
Let me make a prediction, not in the Name of the Lord, but of myself. Let me repeat that this is not of the Lord, but of myself. There are two things that are going to happen soon. In the political line, all sides are corrupt--every nation is controlled by the devil; the Bible says so. He took Jesus up on a mountain, and said, "All these things are mine. If Thou wilt fall down and worship me, I'll give them to You." Jesus knew that they would be His in the Millennium, but He didn't mention that. He said, "It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God." "Rejoice all ye people of the earth for the kingdoms of this earth, have become the kingdoms of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and He shall rule and reign on the earth." Now notice there may be a change in the political field within the next year or so. And when it takes place there may be a panic. If politics change and the war situation becomes different, then you may see a panic the like of never before, and people will go crazy with fear. There is going to be a time of trouble such as the world has never known before.
I believe that God is giving this revival to get the people anchored to Christ for the great shock that is coming. If things go on a little longer, we're going to be bombed with the atomic bomb just as certain as I'm standing here. It will be one of these two things. We are headed for trouble. Remember this, if you haven't received Christ and been baptized with the Holy Ghost, don't let the sun rise until you have received!
There is coming a time when such things as plagues and germ warfare are going to let loose upon the earth. But the angel of the Lord said, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." (Rev. 7:3.) Brother, Sister, the seal of God is the Holy Spirit. Ephes. 4:30 says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Some might class me as a fanatic. God forbid that I should be a deceiver. Brother, this is more to me than life. But I believe that we are at the end of the road. I believe that something is preparing to take place. We are right i the middle of the greatest revival that the world has ever seen in all ages. Sure, Wesley had a revival in England. The Lutheran revival and the Welch revival were great movements of God. But this is a universal affair--it is everywhere. The Holy Ghost is moving everywhere. Maybe some of you are strangers within our gates. I admit that there are some things done in the name of Pentecost that I don't think are right. The Pentecostal people are human and like the rest of us, they make mistakes, but they have something the rest of the world needs--that is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
The Antichrist is the spirit of deception that will be so close to the real thing that it will deceive the very elect if possible. If ever there were a need to enter the door of mercy, it is now. Find out where you are standing. The hour is coming, brother, when there is going to be such confusion that you won't know where you are. While you can slip into the kingdom of God, do it now. Let Christ save you and seal you.
The other day a Jewish man, one of the greatest Jewish men of the nation, stood in my room--he was a missionary from Africa. He said, "Brother Branham, I want to ask you something. I have had so many degrees. I have had so many this and that. I am a member of a certain denominational church. I've looked around and I have been wondering. I've been taught so and so at school. But has the school been wrong? Have our teachers been wrong? We have read your book, A MAN SENT FROM GOD. Our hearts have burned for God." He fell across a little coffee table there in the room and cried, "O God have mercy on me through your Son, Jesus Christ. I want the Holy Ghost."
Yes, friends, God is calling you for the last time. Accept Christ. Get sealed by the Spirit of God. At this hour our nation is unconcerned. People have plenty to eat and to wear. But don't be deceived. A change is coming and it won't be long. Make your decision for things eternal.
I WANT to talk to you about healing. Do you believe that Christ is your healer? He's wonderful isn't He? Let us read some Scripture. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17) I believe that we are living in the fulfillment of the anti-type of the calling of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and their journey into the Promised Land. Today we are on the march. Do you believe that we have a promised land? Yes! "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Is that right? A promise to come again to receive you?
Now as Israel came out of Egypt, there were three stages of the journey--which is a beautiful type of the three stages of the church. As Joshua went in and took those cities that were already built, so will the meek inherit the earth. Now I want you to notice that God supplied everything that they needed for the journey--they just stepped out by faith believing, and they started on the road. Whenever they had need of anything, God provided it. When they had need of food, God sent in some quail. When they had need of water, Moses smote the rock. When they had need of healing, God had Moses to erect a brass serpent, and whosoever looked upon it was healed.
The children of Israel came out under sacrifice, an innocent substitute dying for a guilty person. The lamb is a very beautiful picture of the Lamb of God. There wasn't a bone in its body broken--just as the Bible said that there would not be a bone of the body of Jesus broken. Christ was killed by the whole congregation of Israel, who witnessed the killing of the Lamb. Israel said, "Let his blood be upon us." They were the ones that condemned Him. He was killed in the evening--as was the lamb, a very beautiful type.
I want you to notice a picture. When God was ready to deliver Israel He sent a man, Moses--a perfect type of Christ. However, Moses did not do the leading, only in the sense of this that he was the physical person used; God sent an angel. God was preparing Moses for a great work. First of all he had an odd birth. As soon as the people saw that he was a proper child and, not being afraid of the king's commandment, they hid him in the bulrushes, and Pharaoh's daughter raised him. There were three stages in Moses' life, the first forty years in Egypt, then forty years herding sheep in the back part of the desert, then the last forty leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Wilderness. God had spoken to him, and he thought surely that Israel would understand that God had called him for the purpose of delivering the nation. But they failed to understand and so he went out to the wilderness, where he married his wife. God had him out there dressing him up for the work that He had for him to do. Moses had a temper, and he married an Ethiopian woman that had as much temper as he had. She proved that when she called her husband "a bloody husband." I imagine that they had some ups and downs there on the desert. Moses was getting a little training. We all need some of that, don't we?
Then when God was ready for him to go out, he appeared to Moses in the form of an angel in a burning bush, and led Israel. Listen to the words; "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee...." (Exodus 23:20-23) It was not "Moses, I am sending you to do this," but "Mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in" unto the place that is prepared...the promised Land.
Who was this angel? Let us turn to Exodus the 13th Chapter, and beginning with the 21st verse, read: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." The angel was seen as a Pillar of Fire. That Pillar of Fire led the children of Israel, and whatever way the Pillar went, that is the way that they went. In the day time it turned to a White Cloud--in the night time, it was a Pillar of Fire. They followed it until it led them to the Promised Land.
Every night manna rained down from heaven. It tasted like oil and honey; like wafers with honey on it. Did you ever taste any?
It's marvelous! The Pillar led them by day and night. The Angel of the Lord went before them. Now I believe today that God is leading the Church out of spiritual Egypt, out of trespasses and sins. He has taken us through the Red Sea and liberated us from the power of the enemy. I believe in holiness, in the power of God that absolutely separates man from sin. That is a big word for a Baptist to believe. Certainly I believe in grace, but when grace comes in, it brings with it the fruits of grace, and you live differently. It's not what you think, it's what you are. I could think that I had a hundred dollars in my pocket, but if I didn't have it, I'd just e deceiving myself. That's the same way with a man thinking that he can live any way that he wants to and still the grace of God for lasciviousness. And that is disgrace instead of grace. I believe that when you come out of spiritual Egypt, confessing your faith in Christ, you pass through the Blood, which cleanses from all sin, and puts a new desire in your heart to serve God. After that the Holy Spirit leads you on the journey, just as the Angel of the Lord led the church in that day. Do you believe it?
Let us think for just a moment. If that were the Angel of the Lord that led the children of Israel, don't you believe that the same God Who lived in the day, is the same today? I want to tell you what happened in Houston, Texas. We were holding a meeting in the Sam Houston Auditorium and there was a hostile minister there that said I was a religious racketeer--had it printed in the paper. He said that I ought to be run out of Houston, and I think he wanted to be the one to do it. Mr. Bosworth came to the hotel room where I was staying and said, "Brother Branham, look at this, the very idea--call his hand on it." I answered, "Brother Bosworth, I've never seen a debate in my life, but what has caused confusion. God never sent me to debate. He sent me to pray for the sick, and that's what my duty is. I do not argue religion with anyone. It isn't supposed to be argued--it is supposed to be lived." Brother Bosworth remarked, "But Brother Branham, the public." And the next day the clergyman gave another big challenge in the paper and said, "They are afraid to accept the challenge, because their position cannot be proved Scripturally. There is no such thing as Divine healing in the Bible for this day. The days of miracles are past." Brother Bosworth came back and asked, "Brother Branham, are you going to put up with that?" I answered, "Brother Bosworth, there is no need of fussing with those people. Do you know that there has to be some of that kind--the Bible says that in the last day there would be some who would be scoffers. It also says that in the last days, perilous times would come, when men would be lover of themselves. They will come out of some seminary, boasting of their education and degrees...For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." (II Tim. 3:2-5) I said to Brother Bosworth, "The Bible says there would be scoffers and we will have them." "But Brother Branham, it's the public that I am thinking about. Let me answer him if you do not want to."
I replied to Brother Bosworth, "I can't go down there and debate, for if I do, it throws me all off. I'm praying for the sick, thousands are attending, and hundreds and hundreds are being healed--why fuss with people? The proof of the pudding is the eating thereof. If God is healing the people, let those scoffers go ahead. Like Judas Iscariot, there are those who won't believe. The true and the false spirits are abroad in the world. There were Esau and Jacob, twin brothers. They had the same spirit individually as Cain and Abel. The person leaves this world, but the spirit remains. He took Elijah but left the Spirit, and it came on Elisha. It came on John the Baptist, and it will come again."
Brother Bosworth replied, "Let me go; I want to ask him some questions concerning Christ's attitude toward healing today. He can never answer them, not according to his teaching from the Bible." So I said, "All right." He then stated to the press that he would accept the challenge. The newspapers of Houston spread the news of the challenge on the headlines of the front pages that night people came from everywhere--by train, by bus, by plane. God showed me that when the showdown came, He would stand by me--that when the skeptics and demons stormed, He would stand by me, and they would be defeated.
The seminary preacher was a polished scholar who knew all the crooks and turns. I have always said a seminary preacher (not speaking of Bible schools that believe in the power of God) reminded me of an incubator chicken. It has no mammy to go to--it's hatched out by artificial heat. Such preachers may know reading, writing, and arithmetic, but know little about God. Their religion consists mostly of criticism of those who do know the power of God.
The seminary preacher went down to a commercial photographer and said, "I'm going to skin that old man, and when I do, I'm going to put some epsom salts in his hide, to watch it burn, and I want you to come over tonight with your camera. Take six shots of me when I'm on the platform." That night a great crowd was in attendance. The magazines and newspapers were represented at special tables set up for the reporters. Mr. Bosworth arose to speak. He said, "I saw in the paper a statement made that Brother Branham ought to be run out of the city. I should think that the city should spend the time running bootleggers and their kind out of the city rather than such a man as Brother Branham." There was a great cheer from the people and I saw that the seminary preacher did not have many friends in that audience. I was not sitting on the platform but was with my wife up in one of the balconies.
Brother Bosworth continued, "I have many statements that Christ's present attitude toward Divine healing is just the same today as when He walked the shores of Galilee. If my opponent can answer any one of these, then I'm willing to say I'm wrong and I will walk off the platform but it must be proved from the Scriptures. I'll ask the first question: Were the Redemptive compound names of Jehovah applied to Jesus..yes or no?" The seminary preacher would not answer him on this. For one of the redemptive names is Jehovah-Rapha (Exod. 15:26), which means the "Lord our Healer." If he were Jehovah-Jireh, meaning "the Lord will provide a sacrifice," and that is in effect today, so also must be the Redemptive names, Jehovah-Rapha. Mr. Bosworth went ahead coolly and reverently, until he sewed that man in and around the Scriptures, until there wasn't a place to move, and he knew it.
All he could do when he got up to take his side of it was to say that he did not believe in miracles today, but that at the time of the resurrection, the body would put on immortality. It was a weak argument--no proof from the Bible, and the audience showed its displeasure at his unbelief. Finally he said, "Bring that Divine healer forth--let me see him perform just one miracle on this platform." Mr. Bosworth answered, "Brother Branham doesn't claim to be a Divine healer. If teaching Divine healing makes him a Divine healer, then if you taught salvation it would make you a Divine Saviour. Brother Branham only points them to Christ, who is both the Savior and Healer." But he kept saying, "Just bring the Divine healer forth." Finally Brother Bosworth said, "Now I know Brother Branham is in the building, and if he wants to come and dismiss the audience, it's all right, but he doesn't have to."
Just as Brother Bosworth had said that, I felt something. I knew the Angel of the Lord was near. I said to those sitting with me, "This is the Lord." I started for the platform. The seminary preacher said, "Only the weak-minded believe these things," and something to the effect that his denomination did not believe in healing. (He was a Baptist.) Brother Bosworth objected with, "I beg you pardon--how many Baptist people are here who are in good standing with your church and who have been healed?" About a hundred stood. At this moment one of the seminary preacher's deacons got so angry that he swung at one of our ushers.
By that time I had reached the platform. I said to the audience, "I am sorry these things have to happen." The seminary preacher said to me as I turned to him, "As a man I admire you, but your teaching is wrong." I replied, "I can say the same thing about you." Then I turned back to the audience and said, "I was reminded this evening of our Master when He claimed to be a prophet; they said He was Beelzebub. When they caught Him, they tied His hands behind Him, and put a rag over His face, and hit Him over the head with a reed. Now they mocked, 'If you are a prophet, prophesy and say who hit you.' He never opened His mouth to say a word. He just let them go ahead. Even on the Cross His critics said, 'Come down and prove yourself.' That same spirit lives today. It's true I never claimed to be a Divine healer. I've spoken to millions of people, either directly or indirectly, and never once have I said that I was a Divine healer, but very much to the contrary, that I was not a Divine healer; only Christ is the Healer. I tell you a truth--God will never testify to a lie. I tell you a truth that God has followed me all the days of my life. That He spoke with me while a child, out of a tree, and many times later. But finally in the form of a man, or an angel, who walked up to me and told me that I was to minister to the sick, and that he was sent from the presence of God to tell me this, He also told me that I would go to all parts of the world and would pray for the sick. When I answered him and told him that I could not go because I was uneducated, and that they wouldn't believe me, he said that two signs would be given me, as two signs had been given to the prophet Moses. And when those signs were performed the people would believe. The angel then gathered himself up into a pillar of light and vanished from the room. I went on to say that many times since then a pillar or halo of light has been seen near me by hundreds of people when I was preaching. Many other things have happened. I have no way of proving these things myself; only God can prove them. God is truth; He cannot lie."
I continued on for several minutes: "Some people have become so ritualistic and formal that they fail to see the supernatural work. And they try to form their own opinions by figuring the thing out. But you can't figure God out--no man can." Just then I felt something. I bowed my head--the Angel of the Lord had come down. The photographer who had taken the pictures of the seminary preacher ran forth excitedly and took a picture. I might say that this photographer had been quoted in the paper as making very critical remarks concerning me. That night they went up to develop the negatives, as the clergyman wanted them the next day. The first one he drew out, after developing it, was a blank. He developed the others, but as he pulled them out one by one, they were all blank! When he pulled out the picture with me standing on the platform, there was a halo of fire rolling round and round. Next morning they rushed to the hotel to tell us what had happened. In the meantime, they sent the negative to Washington, D.C., to get it copyrighted. When it was returned, they took it to an investigator of questioned documents, a Mr. George Lacey. He kept it two days, giving it every scientific test, and then wrote out a statement, signed it himself, that there was absolutely no double exposure, that everything was in order, and the halo of light could not have gotten on the film by natural means.
One of the men who had doubted said, "I myself thought your work was just psychology, but Brother Branham, the mechanical lens of that camera will not take psychology--it was a supernatural light that struck that lens." If I never see you again--God has testified to the Christian world and to the scientific world that the statements that I am am king are the truth, vindicated by God. Where other ministers because of their education and wits are able to outwit the enemy, the only thing I have to rely upon is the power of God--but brother that's good enough for me.
I just noticed a few minutes ago, Congressman Upshaw who walked into the meeting. Until I was in California I had never seen nor heard of him. One night during the meeting I saw by vision a young lad fall and hit his back on a hay frame. I saw him later in high office. I testified in the meeting that I had seen this vision. The next night Brother Baxter saw this man. I looked and there sat the man who had been an invalid and on crutches for 66 years. Many of those years he had spent on a rolling cot. He has served as Congressman from Georgia for eight years, and later was a candidate for the presidency of the United States.
Brother Upshaw tried to get healed by the doctor, but failing he adopted a slogan, "Be not discouraged, and never give up." He wrote books and spoke in colleges throughout the country. Then after being an invalid for 66 years, God healed him. As I looked out in the audience that night, I saw a little colored girl that was paralyzed. Then I saw her with her doll under her arm going down the street, healed. I said to the mother, "Stand your baby up." And then the little girl who had been paralyzed for two years, from the shoulder down, was made perfectly whole. I then looked and I saw Congressman Upshaw with his striped suit on, going down the street, leaping and praising God and testifying to the people. I said, "Congressman, you're healed, in the name of the Lord." And here is Congressman Upshaw standing right here to give a testimony.
"It's the sweetest story ever told. I was saved 67 years ago when I was a country boy. The devil told me that if I became a Christian I would never have any pleasure in the world. He was a liar. I have had more joy in one week after I was converted than I ever had in my life before.
"Brother Branham has told you about the accident. I was seven years on a bed and five years on a rolling cot--the first time I ever came to Louisiana was on a rolling cot. Then I was 59 years on crutches.
"The first time I saw Brother Branham, I was on crutches. I walked into Calvary Temple on those crutches. My blessed wife was there and told me these words, 'When you appropriate faith you're healed.' Brother Branham said that night, 'Lay your hands on your loved ones you want to be healed.' My wife fell down on her knees and laid hands on me, while Brother Branham prayed, and the people were being healed all around. About that time they took Brother Branham out, but the pastor, LeRoy Kopp came back and said, 'Brother Branham said, "The Congressman is healed".' I laid down my crutches and started to run. That's all I have to say now, because I want Brother Branham to get started on the healing line."
That's wonderful, isn't it? Let's all say, "Praise the Lord." Now God has confirmed His truth to you. Will you believe the truth? Here is what it is: Jesus Christ died to save sinners and to heal sick people. He did it 1900 years ago. The deposit of His blood was put in for redemption at Calvary and there's nothing that man can do but point to it. Only your faith will draw dividends from it. Only you can accept it, and no matter how much anyone prays for you, it will never do you any good until you yourself accept it. Salvation has been provided for every sinner here tonight, but it will never do you any good until you accept it--then it becomes your personal property. Every believer here that is saved has a right to every redemptive blessing, and you have a right to draw on that which has been provided. You will never be able to overdraw. Some people say, "Oh, I just ask God for so much." Can you imagine that? Someone else said, "Brother Branham, it looks like we ought to let God rest awhile." I said, "God wants me to ask day and night." The longer you pump a well of water, the colder the water gets. Could you imagine little fish out in the ocean, saying, "I've got to drink of this water sparingly, because I might drink it all up?" Could you imagine that? That's just like thinking you could use all of God's blessings. They are higher than the sky and deeper than the sea. Could you imagine a little mouse in the granaries of Egypt saying, "I must eat of this wheat sparingly; I might run out," when tons of it were lying there? Why the little mouse couldn't eat it up in a thousand decades. Neither can you draw all the blessings from God. There's healing at the Fountain for everyone of you; it's just as fresh tonight as it was on Calvary's Cross.
By faith the elders obtained a good report. By faith, Abraham denied his own country, sojourneying in a strange land, dwelling in tabernacles and tents as did Isaac and Jacob, men that were heroes of faith. And down through time, God had always raised up those who had faith, while the people of the world have always tried to figure things out. Adam and Eve took of the Tree of Knowledge back there in the Garden of Eden instead of walking out and standing on the Word of God. Knowledge with humility always takes men away from God instead of to Him.
Not long ago I was in the office of a man in the juvenile department. He showed ma a map of the United States and the crime situation. He said, "The worst criminals often come out of the best society. They become so educated and smart that they figure that they can outwit the law." The same thing applies in the other realm. Man thinks he has figured out the Scriptures until he can explain all about the Atonement, and the power of God. You can't explain God. God is not known by knowledge. God is known by faith. You will never learn anything about Him except by faith. Don't try to match wits with the devil either; he'll beat you a thousand times. But when you humbly have faith, Satan is defeated right now. He that believes the simple promise, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe ye receive them," defeats the devil any time under any condition.
If when you came to the meeting tonight, you say, "Lord I believe this to be just as true as can be. I come knowing that You will do something for me," I assure you by the grace of God that you will go away rejoicing and happy because you received what you came for. I've seen it put to the test. I've never seen the time that God didn't bring us through victoriously and He will yet.
Someone said to me, "Brother Branham you might have come up against demons in Africa, but just wait until you come up against some of those Hindus. They say that when you get a group together down there, you will have something on your hands. They will do all kinds of tricks for a little money, and they despise a Christian." Say brother, I know in Whom I believe and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. I believe that our God rules the heavens and the earth and his power over all things. Demons, when they meet the power of God, will scream and come out.
I walked into a spiritualist den once, where they would raise tables in the air and do all sorts of things. It was the power of the devil pulling on the table. They said, "If your God is so string, knock the table down." I replied, "I can't do it, because I'm a human being, but the God whom I serve can do it." Then I said, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command that table to drop to the floor," and the four legs almost dropped out from under it. God is God. "In my name they shall cast out devils." That scripture is just as true as the rest of the Bible. But don't you go into a medium's den unless you've been called to do it. You had better know what you are doing.
This morning Congressman Upshaw made this statement: "If a man is born of his father, then there is something of his father's nature in him." That's true. and if we are born-again Christians, we receive of the nature of Christ, and the things that He does, we shall do likewise. Jesus Christ was born into this world, the son of God. It was at the age of 30 that God spoke out of heaven and commissioned Him and gave Him His ministry. Christ had to prove Himself, and so likewise we grow in grace and find favor with God. When He can trust you, He will give you something to work with. But if you are unruly and not in condition to work, and cannot be trusted, God isn't going to give it to you.
God by His Spirit seals you into His kingdom, not until the next revival, but until the day of your redemption. When Jesus received His ministry, the spirit like a dove descended upon Him, and a voice spoke out of heaven, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He saith, "It is not me that doeth the works, it is my Father that dwelleth in me." So it is not us, but it is the gift of God. I'm only your brother. That electric wire up there could not say, "I'm the one that gives the light." Turn the current off and see who gives the light. It's the current that gives the light. The wire is only the conductor of the current. I can only be the conductor of the gift of which he has sent down to this earth.
When the angel came to me I knew nothing of what he was going to say to me. But he said, "As the prophet Moses was given two signs to vindicate his ministry, so you will be given two signs." In Moses' time God appeared to him in a flaming bush. The first time the angel ever revealed himself to me was in a whirlwind in a bush. Now who was Moses but a man who finally failed God? God refused to let him go into the Promised Land with the children of Israel. It was not Moses who did these miracles, it was the Angel of the Lord. He led the children of Israel through the wilderness in a Pillar of Fire.
We have reached the end of the age, and God is sending forth His Spirit and has called a world-wide revival--a revival to revise those already in the fold! The thing that we need is to revive what we already have. Like the lake near the city--the other day it had a revival. The waves were leaping and the white caps were flying. That is what the church needs today--a good old-fashioned revival, to freshen up a little.
The Angel of the Lord has come down in these last days, an dit is the hour for things to happen. There are not enough devils in hell to stop it. It's going to go on. A few years ago the world condemned the Spirit-filled people and you had to eat corn off the railroad track to live. The big churches said, "It will wear out, there is nothing to it; it will be gone pretty soon." Yet a recent census showed that the Full Gospel church was the fastest growing church in America today.
Many of the large churches have failed God, and others letting the world come in are losing their power. Moses is a type of the church age, and Moses did not glorify God when he became angry and struck the rock twice. He glorified himself and God would not permit him to take Israel over into the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb, who had been with him all the time, are the ones who took the church in the Wilderness over. Moses failed and died. The churches by their sectarianism are glorifying themselves and pushing Christ out. There are some "come-outers" but these are just as sectarian as the rest. All that are born of the Spirit are children of God.
We are in the last days. The Gentile church is getting its last and final call now. Got on the Rock. Don't be wayward children running to and fro after this and that--poor wayward children, tossed about by every wind of doctrine. They are just like a bunch of woodpecker chasers. Reminds me of a time when a fellow who went down to get a bunch of goats, and whenever he called he knocked on a stump to get the hogs to come. The hogs got so fat and pretty. Then a bunch of woodpeckers came through there and began to knock on every tree. The hogs nearly ran themselves to death. They got so poor they could scarcely walk. That's about the way the church is getting. Everything that comes along and knocks on the side of the tree--people follow after it.
Brother, Sister, quit being superstitious and settle down to the truth and fact. The truth is anything that God says about Himself. Regardless of what the preacher says, believe the Word of God for the work's sake anyhow. There were Peter, James and John. They weren't educated. The Bible says that they were ignorant and unlearned men. But the people had to take notice, because they had been with Jesus. People today go into a healing meeting and say, "Oh that's nothing but psychology." But in the midst of all of it Almighty God has confirmed it as truth.
A few years ago, the nominal churches said that there could never be another time of big revival again as in the days of Billy Sunday. Many articles were published that there would never be another revival. Now that the healing revivals have brought great numbers of people together, the denominations have been forced to enter into union revivals.
We're in the hour of visitation. Many take it all so matter-of-factly. What we need is an old-fashioned gospel spanking to wake us up. The Bible states over in Ezek. 9:2-4 "And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which has the writer's inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that e done in the midst thereof."
If that angel came through this city tonight, how many people would he set his mark upon? How many are sincere and disturbed about sin, and dying humanity? How many lay on their faces day and night and cry for a revival, until their eyes are scalding with tears? Oh you say, "I go to church." That isn't even the beginning. Put a mark on those who sigh and cry for the abominations that stand in the midst of the city.
Perhaps my message tonight is a little too quick for you. Let me tell you brother, the hour is coming when you are going to hear more about that. The hour is coming when people will cry for the word of god. I feel this in my spirit, and I believe I have the warning of the Spirit of God. I see destruction is coming. I see saints sitting by, with an indifferent attitude, saying, "Well, I've got the Holy Ghost." Brother that is only the beginning. Wake up! Rise and shine! The hour is coming when the church is either going up or going down. The sifting has come.
How many people in your church or your community constantly sigh and pray because of the wickedness that is going on in the city? Think of your loved ones that are caught in it. Oh my, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:14) "...And broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." (Matt. 7:13) As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the son of Man. Eight souls were saved. Be careful! It takes more than a profession or a church record. It takes more than an old experience. It takes a dying out, a regeneration, a new creature in Christ Jesus, sealed unto the kingdom of God by the Holy Ghost. It makes you a new creature--loving, kind, sweet, meek, gentle, humble, forgiving. It is Christ living in you the hope of glory. You can't rub that seal out. You can get notary public seal, and you can rub it with an eraser, you can wash it, but you can't destroy the seal. The seal will be there as long as the paper is there.
When I started out with this message, the Baptist people said that I had lost my mind. But there was a group of people that I knew nothing about--that is you, you people! And, God by signs and wonders, has sent me to declare to you the power of His son Jesus Christ. I have done it reverently and give all praise to Him. God has declared that what I have said was the truth. He has shown it by signs and wonders. Remember, as His prophet, I'm warning every one that except you press into the kingdom, you're going to be left on the outside.
Did I ever tell you about the raising from death of the little boy in Finland? Down in Miami one day, I had seen a vision of a little boy. He was a stubby little fellow, was poorly dressed and had been killed in an accident. He had funny looking bobbed-off hair, with brown eyes and a flat looking face. They were preparing to take him to the morgue. In the vision I got down by the little boy and prayed, and the little fellow came back to life. You will remember I told you about this event that would take place a year before, right in this city. I told you that you would read about it in the VOICE OF HEALING some day.
When I went to London, the voice of the Lord told me that something was going to happen. We went on to Helsinki and had a marvelous reception. Thousands stood on the street waiting to get into the meeting. Then we went north to Kuopio, way up near the land of the Midnight sun. On my fast day I went to the top of a hill to a tower, and I kept feeling peculiar. As we went down the hill from the tower, a car in front of us was speeding, and two little boys started across the street. The car struck the little fellows, and one of them was thrown against the pavement giving him conclusion of the brain. The other boy went down under the wheels, and the wheels were spinning so fast that the boy was whirled out and against the curb. (Let a dog get hit like this and see what happens.) The first boy was picked up and rushed to the hospital. We didn't see him at the time, because the car hid him from our view. Those with us rushed out and got the other lad and brought him in our car. When I looked at the fellow, I though of my little Billy and I couldn't help but cry. We were aliens in a strange land of people across the sea. But I couldn't help but think, "What if we got news like that of our boy?"
When I looked at the boy again, I thought, "That child looks strange...I've seen that boy somewhere." I asked the minister of the church, where we had been preaching (he ws in the car) if the child belonged to his church. He answered that he didn't. I asked if the boy had been in a prayer line somewhere. (If I hadn't been so excited, I would have remembered the vision right away.) They told me he hadn't been in a prayer line. I thought, "There's something strange about that lad." While the car was going down the hill, I felt the child's pulse. He was just as dead as could be The blood was running out of his mouth, and his little body was so mangled and twisted. A dog couldn't even live after being hit like that. He was lying there so motionless and lifeless. He was gone!
I said, "Oh Mercy, it seems like I know the little boy." All of a sudden I felt something move. I remembered the vision, and kneeling down I asked the Heavenly Father to fulfill and bring it to pass that which He had said. Then the spirit of the lad came back to the boy and he was raised up. Today that boy is alive and healthy!
Arriving at the hospital, we learned of the other lad who had been hit and of his serious condition. After two days he was still unconscious. The parents of both children came to the hotel to see me. The father and mother of the first boy were so happy because the Lord had given life back to their son according to the vision that He had showed me. But the other parents looked at me and said, "What about our boy? Is he going to live?" I replied that I could not say. But they answered, "You have told the other parents that their boy would live; can't you say something for our boy?" I answered that I could say nothing until the Lord showed me. Then they began to weep.
I then asked the parents if they were Christians. They replied that they belonged to the church but were not saved. I asked them if God saved their boy, would they serve the Lord all their days and teach the child to do so. With tears they answered that they would. Then we all knelt and prayed. I said in my prayer, "Father, please have mercy on us and save their son." Then I returned to my room.
The news was brought to me about that time that unbelievers standing by at the scene of the accident, when the boy was killed, had said, "There is the 'Divine healer' from America whom they are all talking about. Now let us see what he will do." When they heard that the dead boy was raised, then they said. "Why doesn't he do something for the other boy who has been unconscious for two days?" That is what my interpreter, Sister Isaacson, reported that the people were telling the parents of the child that was dying in the hospital.
I then said to Sister Isaacson, "I can do nothing until God shows me what to do. That is what Jesus said in John 5:19. I can only pray." That night I prayed again for the boy. The report came from the hospital the next day that he was just barely alive, and life seemed to be going fast. The following evening, after returning from the service, I was in my hotel room. The Angel of the Lord came into my room. Before me were placed two Easter flowers, one leaning to the south and another to the north. That is just the way the boys' bodies fell when the car struck them. The one toward the north was the one they took up dead, and the Lord healed. The other one to the south was the smaller lad, who was still unconscious these three days. Then the flower toward the north sprang up at once, strong and alive, but the other one toward the south was fading away and dying fast. The angel made me to understand that the vision represented the two boys. Then he showed me two pieces of candy which had just been given to me before I came into the room. The angel said, "Take one piece and eat it." I did, and it tasted good. Then he said to me, "Eat the other piece." But the second piece did not taste just right, and I started to take it from my mouth. But the angel seemed to say, If you do that, the other boy will die." So I quickly ate the other piece. Then the flower was alive again in the other vision. When the vision was over, I hastened to the room of Brother Lindsay and Brother Moore. I said to my brethren, "Thus saith the Lord concerning the boy." Then I repeated the vision to the others of the party. I said, "God showed my another vision three weeks before in London, and it came to pass perfectly. so this vision also shall come to pass. The boy shall live." Sister May Isaacson, the interpreter, tried to call the parents of the boy and tell them what I had said, but they had gone to the hospital, for it had been told them that the boy was dying. But when they arrived at the hospital, they discovered that something had happened. The lad had awakened out of his unconscious condition. When they reported this to Sister May, she asked, "What time did this happen?" They said, "While were were watching for him to take his last breath, he suddenly became conscious. It was 10 o'clock at the time." When the doctors examined the boy, they reported that he would be all right. After checking the time of the vision, I found that it was just 10 o'clock when the Angel of the Lord had come into my room. The boy is now home, healthy and happy. All praise to the power of Jesus' Name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all!
Coming down that night in Kuopio, they had to bring me through the crowds to get me into the building. As I was being taken in, I heard a door slam a little girl come out. This little Finnish girl had on braces and crutches. The brace went from the toe of her shoe up over her back, and the only way she could walk was to use the brace as a leg, for her leg was lifeless. The strap across her shoe would move when she moved her shoulder, thus pulling her leg out. Then she would take her crutches and support herself. When I looked at the poor little thing, my heart went out to her.
Sometimes I would get a lot of cheap candy and go down town and give it out to the little children. They would follow me around the street...they were so thankful. I loved them! I later learned that this little girl was a war orphan. She looked at me, dropped her head, for she thought she had done something wrong. I stopped. I knew she wanted to come to me. She picked up my coat and kissed it on the pocket. She looked at me with her baby blue eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. I saw a vision... and I knew the child was healed. I said, "Honey, you're healed." They pushed me on. That night the little girl came in the prayer line. I asked Sister Isaacson to interpret for me. I asked the girl if she wasn't the one I had met in the hall a short time before. I told her that Jesus respected her faith and that she was healed. I told her to go sit down, have her braces removed, and that she would be able to walk. Soon the little girl came running across the platform and up and down the steps, holding the braces over her head. When the people saw the miracle that had happened, some didn't wait to get into the prayer line but threw their crutches away and started to walk. The people were excited and said, "The Lord Jesus has blessed us!"
We Americans know too much. We have gone to college and they have taught us psychology. The Jews of old killed the prophets and then built their tombs. Is it possible that America fails to see the day of her visitation? We can discern the face of the sky, but why not the signs of the times? Certainly we are in a day of signs, wonders, and miracles. Those who fail to see the signs and accept them and believe, will go on to judgement.
DIVINE healing is the personal property of every believing child of God. The right mental attitude toward any of God's promises will bring healing in your life. Wherever you are, if you love the Lord, that makes you a Christian. But you can't love the Lord and do the things of the world, for God's Word says, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not His commandments, is liar, and the truth is not in him." (I John 2:4).
Divine healing is based upon, first, the word of God, secondly, the atonement, thirdly, your individual faith. The Divine gifts of healing don't give any man power to heal anyone he chooses. The laying on of hands for the healing of the sick is an act of obedience, taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, "These signs shall follow them that believe...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:17-18) The healing is not in the individual, it is obedience to an act, just as being baptized in water is. However, the water does not remit your sins--the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin. The baptizing in water is an outward sign, showing that an inward work of grace has been done. And so, if you haven't repented of your sins, and accepted Christ as your Saviour, your baptizing doesn't mean a thing. Likewise, when a man says he has faith, and doesn't have the works to rise up and act like he believes it, it doesn't do him any good. Faith without works is dead just as the body without the Spirit is dead.
There are two classes of people that God is dealing with this day. One of them is the Fundamental group and the other is the Full Gospel group. To my way of thinking, the fundamental group stretches Grace to where it doesn't belong, and I think some of the other group stretch it the other way. But right in the middle of the road is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe in grace, but on the other hand I also believe in holiness. Isaiah said that there is a highway--the way of holiness. Any correctly built road is higher int he center than it is on the side, so that the trash can wash off. Now when a man is born into the kingdom of God, he's put right straight in the middle of the road, looking toward Christ, the Saviour. If he doesn't watch he'll gradual move over to one side where he'll get so cold and starchy, or he'll move over to the other side where he gets into fanaticism. But right in the middle of the road, is the true sane path of those who would obey the truth Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a Gospel that you don't have to be ashamed of; it is the power and manifestation of the Holy Spirit. You can believe too much grace and get into universalism--do anything you want to and you're safe. That's wrong. Others believe if you should do this or that you are corssing the separating line forever. Lots of people think they have sinned against the Holy Ghost. All they need to do is to look to their Advocate, that's all; God will bring them back to grace. May God help us to keep balanced.
Divine healing is the same way. People say that in their hands is some kind of power for laying hands on the sick. I was amused recently--there was a lady in Sioux Falls that had seen the wonderful works of the Lord. Somebody sitting back near her, heard the woman say, "No doubt the man's true...but he is sure full of magic." To her it was some kind of a superstition as a rabbit's foot, ect. No, it isn't superstition, it is the blessing of God.
They tried to figure out Samson. He was born into this world to be a Nazarite. It wasn't his desire; it was God's will that he should be born a Nazarite. Peole tried to figure out the secret of his ministry. They said, "What kind of power has this man got? Is it a certain way he says his prayer?" The power of God has always stumped people. No person in this world ever has or ever will figure out the power of God. The mysteries of God are hidden from human beings. We accept it and believe it. The only thing that God does is make a manifestation of that power, and man seeing it, accepts it.
When Philip brought Nthaniel to Jesus, he was a little critical. But Jesus said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." He said, "When did you know me, Rabbi?" Jesus answered and told him that before Philip had called him, He had seen him under the fig tree. Now Nathaniel could have said, "Now how did that fellow know that?" But Nathaniel did not doubt. He answered, "Thou art the son of God, the King of Israel."
The woman at the well could have said He was some kind of spiritualist because He was able to tell her that she was living out of wedlock. But no, she said, "I perceive that thou art a prophet." And Peter, when He told him to go down there and catch a fish, and get a coin out of its mough and pay the tribute, or when He told the disciples to go to a certain place and there should be a man carrying a pitcher of water, going to an upper room--they might have thought the same thing. But Jesus said He knew these things only as they Father revealed them unto Him. "...Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and he iwll shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." (John 5:19-29)
These same manifestations are taking place today and men still marvel, trying to figure them out. We get too much education, instead of salvation. That's the way it was in the early days...the priest knew all the Latin words. Today we study the words but do not know the Author. Now God is here and as far as God is conscerned every sick person in the building is healed. Jesus paid that deposit at Calvary.
The Fundamental people look at the first three chapters of Ephesians and believe that they are sons and daughters of God because they believe on Him. If they would just read the next three chapters they will find out how they must live to keep their experience. Then there are other people who have lots of faith, but they just don't know who they are. If they only knew!
The Word of God is written by the Holy Ghost, and is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is revealed to babes. No man can understand it but by the Holy Ghost. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see..." The word "see" in this case means "to understand." You look at the things happening in these meetings and you say, "I just can't understand." You are looking with your eyes, but you understand with your heart.
This reminds me of when I was a little boy, when I used to go swimming. I had the least clothes of all the boys. I used a piece of twine for a belt, or a suspender, and a nail stuck through my overalls for a button. Did you ever wear any that way? I'm not the only country boy here, am I? Let's see the hands of those who have worn twine for a belt. Just look at that, would you? When we got to the swimming hole each one of us would try to be the first one in. I was usually first because I didn't have many clothes to take off. I jsut pulled the nail and flung the overalls in the air, and away I'd go. I'd signal to the boys, the temperature of the water. If I had up two fingers, the water was warm...come in. If I held up one finger, the water was cold. But brother you didn't know how the water was until you went in yourself. The same thing is true about the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. You can look at the manifestation and try to study it. But just get in it...then you will know; it will be a personal experience. Then you'll understand.
Now if I could ever get those people who know who they are, but do not have enough faith to write the check and draw on the deposit that Jesus deposited at Calvary, and then get the Pentecostal group who have enough faith, but do not know how to write the check...if I could only get those two groups together, we'd have a real church.
You say God isn't doing these things today. It reminds me of the story of the young lad who got put into jail for shooting gum balls with bean shooters at people. His mother went to the jail and inquired what he was doing there. The boy said that he had been picked up for shooting gum balls. The mother said, "They can't do that!" He replied, "They can't! They did it anyhow!" You say, "God won't do it." He does it anyhow. Taste of the Lord and see that He is good. "The proof if the pudding is the eating thereof."
NOW I want to address a few words to you from Isaiah 21:11-12. "The burden of Dumah. He called to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come." We are living in perilous times. There are wars and rumors of wars, and judgment is coming. This is the generation which shall see all things fulfilled. When Christ in Matthew 24, spoke of His Coming, the Cross was taking Him away, and the Gospel age was coming on. During that time the Holy Spirit was to come and make the people ready for the Second Advent. It would be the most glorious time of all when Jesus shall come the Second time in power and glory, to receive His church.
I realize that tens of thousands of people the world around are watching and weighing every word. I have to be very careful in speaking. I would not say anything that I would be ashamed of in the day of judgment. I want to speak to you from my heart. I believe that if God were here tonight in visible form, and spoke to us, He would direct our thoughts to say something about the Second Advent of Christ. The hours are growing dark. Great isms are sweeping the earth. The things that Jesus spoke of just before He went to the Cross, are taking place right before you eyes. The prophecies of the Old Testament and the New are rapidly being fulfilled. Many prophecies of Christ were fulfilled in the last few hours of His life. Now again we are in the hour of prophetic fulfillment.
Recently I was told that many of the Jews returning to Palestine had been reading the New testament for the first time. They say, "If Jesus is the Messiah, let Him perform the sign of a prophet and we will accept Him." I pray that when God permits me to go to Jerusalem, that His power will come down as it has here in America and in other countries. Jesus can prove that He is a Prophet, and can do those things that He did back there in the early days. I hope to see a revival that will sweep literally tens of thousands into the kingdom of God. Recently I learned that the six-pointed Star of David--some say it is the oldest flag in the world--is flying over Jerusalem tonight, for the first time in 2500 years. The Jews are the Fig Tree that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24. We know that this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. For we are the only generation that has seen the Fig Tree putting forth its buds. I believe that this generation shall see Jesus Christ come the Second time in glory and majesty.
When we see the unrest, strife, unsettled peace, men's hearts failing them for fear, perplexing times, distress between nations, all these things coming to pass, then it behooves us as in the days of Isiah, to look up and say, "Watchman what of the nigh?" In the days of old, the watchman, when it was dark, climbed the steps, went into the tower and checked the time by the stars as they passed. I can imagine in the city of Jerusalem, in Isaiah's time, a man on a warm night. He can't rest; he's longing to see morning come, and he cries out, "Watchman what of thenight?" I think that applies today. Men and women are living under the pressure of sin and its power, the devil deceiving them; there is a running to and fro, men's hearts failing them for fear, looking for those things coming upon the earth, and seeing God's Bible being fulfilled--again they cry out, "Watchman what of the night? What time is it? When will the morning come?" The watchman cried back"The morning cometh, and the night also."
It is time that we were crying out, "What of the night?" Distress is upon the land. Communism is sweeping over the ear th and there are wars and rumors of wars. They are talking peace, peace. But when they say, peace, then cometh sudden destruction. The world is ripe for destruction. When people refuse to know the truth, when they turn their back on the things of God, and call the power of God superstition and want a form of religion, I think it is time to have an old-fashioned God-sent revival like in the days of Elijah. Elijah looked up into the heavens three years and six months, and said, "The whole sky looks like brass." Brass is a symbol of judgment. The brazen altar, the brazen serpent--the serpent itself was in, and the brass, spoke of Divine judgment. Divine judgment was upon Israel because they were an unbelieving people that had turned their backs upon the true, living God and went to worshipping pagan gods and idols.
We are one of the greatest nations of the world; we have the best country in the world, but Communistic termites have eaten the foundation from under our nation, and today she is in a crumbling condition. Sin si abounding and darkness is settling everywhere. As in Elijah's time, women paint up their faces as Jezebel. A minister took me into a church to introduce me to his wife, and there she sat with bobbed hair with her big earrings dangling down. It looked like the devil himself were sitting around her neck and using them for stirrups of a saddle. He said, "Brother Branham, I want to intruduce you to my wife; she's a saint." I looked at him and thought, "She looks more like a 'haint' than a saint." The only woman in the Bible that painted herself up to meet man was Jezebel. Are you her daughters? That spirit still lives. God takes the man and the devil takes the man, but the spirit remains on earth. That same spirit from Cain and Abel goes right down to Christ and Antichrist. Remember what happened to Jezebel. She was fed to the dogs!
What we need these days is a good old-fashioned Holy Ghost meeting--a digging down and scrubbing up. The Bible warns us to beware lest a loot of bitterness spring up. Down in the country where I came from, there was a good spring, and I used to drink from it. I could tell that the water was good for it was clear. Sometimes a farmer's hog would get out and wallow in the spring, and cause it to be muddy. I tell you brother, sometimes something happens to the Holy Ghost church. It looks as if the hogs got into the stream and muddied it up. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is to make one different, to act different and to look different.
God is a Separator in bringing His people out of sin. There in Egypt, God separated the people, making a difference between His people and the world--the Israelites and the Egyptians. Today God makes a difference between His people and the world. When a man is born again, the Blood of the Lamb washes away his sins. He then is separated from the world and he becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.
In the Old Testament, Elijah was getting ready for a revival. What was the first thing that he did? He told the people to call all their idol worshippers to the mount. He then said, "If the Lord Be God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him." (I Kings 18:21) We have the same challenge tonight. What made Communistic Russia what she is today? Because those that professed religion were no different than those of the world. They got sick and tired of their gods and their taking the people's money and giving them nothing in return. Elijah said, "Come up here, you prophets of Baal, and you prophesy..., and let the God that answers by fire, be God."
It seemed funny to Ahab--Elijah standing there against all those Baal prophets. Ahab trusted in his sword, his army and his gods. Let me tell you something brother, the nation that will trust in its armor instead of God--cursed be that nation! I can see David and Goliath standing out on that hillside; Goliath had all the advantage over David. He was a warrior, he had his armor, his shield, and his spear. He said that he was the biggest man among all of them, and no man could whip him. That is just about the attitude of the nations today, when they get themselves all armored up with jet planes and atomic bombs. But there came little David against Goliath. Saul said, "Thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." David answered Saul, ">>>Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him." He went on to tell Saul that if God gave him power over these, how much more would He give him power over the uncircumcised Philistine.
I'd rather trust God and have none of man's armor at all when atomic bombs start falling in the world! David walked out and let them put Saul's armor upon him. You can imagine the young lad with Saul's seven foot armor. That's the way they send a preacher out today. They take him down to the seminary and embalm him first. You know these old cold churches remind me of a morgue, with a lot of dead members in them. Then the ecclesiastical preachers put some sort of embalming fluid in them, and they stay dead too. I can see David out there with his great big old armor on, and I can imagine him saying, "I don't know anything about this thing; I have not proved it." I wish there were more to prove their experience. Salvation does not come by knowing geology, but by knowing kneeology. I can see David as he walked out there, and how the giant said, "Do you mean that you have come out here to fight me?... I'll give your flesh to the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field." David replied, "You have come with a shield and a spear and a sword, but I am coming in the name of the God of Israel." The most powerful ammunition in the world is the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We find in the story that little David ran out with a sling and picked up five rocks, put them in his sling and went out to meet the Philistine. Five rocks, five fingers to sling it around...J-E-S-U-S... F-A-I-T-H. There it goes winding round and round. And when David turned it loose, it hit the target and the Philistine fell dead on the ground.
When Elijah said, "Gather your people out now; we'll see who is God," he rolled him up twelve stones. One stone was for each tribe of the children of Israel. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. If ever the altar of the Lord needs repairing, it is today. The beer, the card tables have taken the place of the old-fashioned altar. The Methodists and the Baptists ought to do the same-repair the altar of the Lord in their homes. America will not be saved unless she rebuilds the altar in her homes.
We see perilous times coming. Trouble is on every hand. When we were in Finland they told us, "Look out America; it's coming your way." They told us about jet planes and underground hangars even on their borders. Trains that ran through that area had to have their windows blacked out. There may be a time in America when a million people will be killed in a few minutes time. Judgment is at hand. God does not destroy. God preserves. But man through his knowledge destroys himself.
In the garden of Eden there were two trees; one was the Tree of Life, and the other was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When man leaves the tree of Faith and eats from the Tree of Knowledge, he brings destruction to himself. It is time to call out, "Watchman, what of the night?" As the watchman of the Bible climbed the tower to watch the stars, to tell the time of night, so we have a watchman who has climbed the ramparts of heaven, and has sat down at the right hand of God. Our Watchman is Jesus Christ, and He tells us that the night is coming.
Sometime ago I was out in Colorado in the mountains, watching an eagle. The old eagle was taking her little ones from the nest. She got her wings all set, and with the little eaglets mouths in their mother's wings, she flew down to a green, grassy field. The little ones began running around, chirmping, and eating grass and having a good time. The told mother sent right straight to the higest peak she could get to and she just sat there. She watched, looking everywhere to see of there was a coyote and or any other animal that would cause them harm. After awhile, she drew up her big head. (I was watching through binoculars.) Something was wrong; she was restless. She could smell a storm coming in the distance. Those northers come very fast. She threw up her big wings and flew down to the valley, to warn her little ones of the coming storm. Friend, Father is watching over us. He is watching the Church to protect it and to take it to be with Him when the storm breaks.
Christ has said, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all powers of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19) But there are many today that deny the power of God. The word says that it would be so; people would be highminded, heady, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God...having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...From such turn away." Now when that bird saw that storm, she spread her wings, let out a terrible scream, and down to earth she came. The little eglets put their feet on her big wings, and went straight into the face of that storm, then ran into the shelter of the rock. I began shouting and praising God. I thought, yes, Jesus sits watching over His little flock, and one day there will come a storm sweeping over the land. When the great persecution comes, and judgment falls upon the earth, then Jesus shall come upon the wings of glory, and we can flee to the Rock in the time of trouble. Hallelujah! "Watchman, watchman, what of the night." He said, "The morning cometh and the night also." It is always the darkest before the dawn. There is night just before the break of day. It is usually the darkest time when the stars shine the brightest. The early risers are the ones who see the morning star! Jesus Christ is the Morning Star! The Bible says that "He that overcometh will be given the Morning Star."
Some of the stars or planets shine by reflected light. Daniel says we shall shine like the stars, but it will be by the reflected light of the Sun of Righteousness. When you see the glory of God in the services, it isn't us shining, but the Holy Ghost shining through us. Now is the time to let your light shine in a world filled with darkness. Before morning can break, when the real light of the sun can shine, these stars reflect the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in these last days. God wants us to reflect His life.
The gold-beater used to take the gold and beat it with a hammer until the reflection of the beater showed in the thing that he was beating. When he got all the sludge out of it, all the dirt out of it, he could see his image in it and he knew it was real gold. The Holy Ghost, God's sledge-hammer has got the church, the jewels of the earth, the nuggets of gold, and is using Holy Ghost preachers to beat out the world. The sludge and dirt is falling away, but God is going to have a remnant, the elect, that are goin to reflect the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A missionary was crossing a desert and he met an infidel. The infidel said, Coyotes were here ast night. The missionary asked him how that he knew it. The infidel replied, "Here's the signs; I know they were here. And Jess said, "These signs shall folow them that believe" We know when a Holy Ghost revival is on, for we can see the signs. Jesus is here fr we can see the signs. The resurrected Christ is in our midst tonight, walking among the churches, the seven golden candelsticks, with the stars in His hands. Now is the time fr the stars to shine, and reflect the glory of the Son of God, and to show that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
There will be international peace, everlasting eace when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. The morning will break and then those who laughed at this message will be as those who lived in the days of Noah. They laughed at Noah but you can imagine how they looked when the storm came and the Ark was lifted up. The very thing that they scoffed at saved Noah. Today the thing that the world is lughing at will condemn the world. The Holy Ghost will be taken up, and those who remain on the earth will face judgment.
You who are letting your lights shine, when the time comes, will be with the stars. We are by the Cross of Calvary little pieces of the Morning Star, for we have become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones, by being born into the Kingdom of God and filled with the Holy Ghost. Soon we will hear the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, Go ye out to meet him." Watchman what of the night? The night is here--groos darkness upon the people. But the morning cometh also! Hallelujah!
HOW God desires tonight to fill this place with His goodness. He desires that the whole world will praise Him. Brother, it will be that way some day. One nation, one people, one flag, one language. That is what the world wants. But it will never be brought about by the atomic bomb. It will only be by the Second Coming of Christ. He shall set up a kingdom to which there will never be an end.
The question is: Have you accepted Him as your Saviour? Does He reign in your heart? If you really believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you accept Him in your heart, you will stand up before the people and witness that you are saved. You cannot be saved except by faith. If you believe and repent of your sins, God is under obligation to save you.
In that clensed state you are back to that place where you were when you came to the age of accountability. But that Adamic nature is there to make you want to sin again. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to give you victory over it. It is a gift of God. But He is more willing to give than you are to receive it.
Last evening a great number filed into the prayer room to receive the Holy Ghost. There was a little lady praying and I asked her, "Have you been saved yet?" She didn't understand too well. As I talked to her, the Spirit of the Lord began to show me her condition, her life, and what was wrong with her. Now I said, "If God is here to show you what's wrong with you, isn't He here to save you?" That settled it. She lifted her hands and began to praise God.
I am going to read a little from the Old Testament. You know why I like the Old Testament so well? I have had no education, but if I read the Old Testament and know that these things are types and shadows, I shall understand the New Testament and the Second Coming of Christ. If there is a shadow on the wall, the person who casts the shadow will be like the shape of the shadow. The Old Testament was a shadow and a type of god's dealings with the Church today. That was the shadow. This is the real thing.
Not long ago in Bemton Harbor I was talking to a Jewish rabbi about a man who was healed after being blind for twety years. The Spirit of the Lord called him in the meetings and in a vision I saw him healed. I said, Sir, God has healed you," and he walked away just as blind as ever. He came back in a few minutes and said, "Say, I don't understand. You told me I was healed." I replied, "You are." "Well," he answered, "I can't see." I said, "I know you are healed; I saw a vision of your being healed." He answered, "It loks to me if I were healed my eyes would be opened." I said, "That has nothing to do with it; you eyes will come open." He replied, "What must I do?" I said, "Just begin to praise the Lord." So he did. The next night I could hardly preach. He was up in the second balcony and he'd jum up and say, "Everybody keep still. Praise the Lod for healing me." I'd get started again and he would go to shouting, "Praise the Lord for healing me." But still he couldn't see. I left the city but he didn't give up. He sold papers on the corner and would say, "Extra! Praise the Lord for healing me!" Well the old fellow went to the barber shop to get a shave. The barber got one side of his face shaved, and he was sort of smart-aleck and wanted to make some kind of remark about the services, so he said, "Say dad, I heard that you went up to see the 'healer' when he was here in the auditorium." The barber continued, "I heard you got healed, didn't you?" He was just making fun of him because he was blind, but John said, "Yes, praise the Lord for healing me." And his eyes came open in the barber chair. With a towel around his nick he started running down the street with the barber behind him. What a sight! He couldn't see perfectly, but he could make his way around, good. Now that man is in Michigan preaching Divine healing by faith.
The rabbi whom I was telling this to said, "Now I want to ask you something. Who healed this man?" I replied, "Jesus Christ healed him." He said, "Jesus Christ? Jesus wasn't the Christ!" I answered, "Oh, yes He is. Not only then, but He is now, and will be always." He said, "You can't make me believe that." I answered, "Well it is through His Name that this man received his sight." The rabbi asked, "Can you do that to every person?" I replied, "The same God that worked in the Old Testament is the one that is working now." Tears began rolling down his cheeks and he said, "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." I answered, "Yes, He is." But the rabbi wouldn't listen to me. He said, "If I taught that Jesus were the Christ I would be beggin in the street." I answered, "Brother, I'd rather be lying on my stomach dronking water and eating soda crackers and preaching the truth than have all your splendor."
I want to read this Scripture to you from Joel 2:25-27. "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wonderously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that